


Magic Decides

by OscarLeogere



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Epilogue Porn, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-12-20 13:16:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OscarLeogere/pseuds/OscarLeogere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin runs a coffee shop.<br/>Arthur works in marketing.</p><p>Arthur is the new customer at Merlin's shop. In reality this wouldn't be that interesting, except every customer of Merlin's shop is only there for because his magic decides.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magic Decides

When you live alone and you’ve reached a certain age there is always that lingering feeling that maybe the reason that you are alone is not because you’ve not met the right person (because surely you’d have met someone close and dated them) and it’s not because you’ve failed to meet people (because you meet people every other day) but perhaps because you are simply unlikeable.

The strange thing is for Arthur he wasn’t entirely sure at what moment he’d come to this conclusion or whether he’d ever thought any different. He knew that when he was a child that he’d always been called handsome by friends of the family but a handsome child can be an ugly adult. He knew that even when he was a grubby teenager at his private school that many would remark on what an accomplished young man he was.

At university there were the occasional glances, but on nights out asides from the random female deciding it’s appropriate to kiss him (ick!) there was actually no real evidence that anyone truly liked him. That was how he’d ended up in the gay bar the night that Morgana had found him. It was incidentally how his whole family had found out about how he was gay _and_ it was how his incredibly conservative friends discovered that Arthur wasn’t a womaniser but a cocksucker. Though, _technically_ Arthur had yet to find someone whose cock he was going to actually suck… As such describing Arthur as one was stretching the definition a little.

This was when Arthur’s life had truly begun. Or at least when his “rebirth” occurred. In the years and decades that would follow he would always loathe the man that he had once been. The false gregariousness, how incredibly callow he could be and perhaps he had been a little too rich too. He’d been popular with friends that were the first to cast him out alongside his father and when he was cut off from his wealth as well… Suffice to say Arthur hadn’t been too impressed, yet in true _Pendragon_ spirit Arthur wasn’t going to be beaten by something so trivial.

The only things his father had ever cared about were the estate, the company and his politics. In Uther’s mind this was nothing more than him considering his legacy, but for Arthur this was nothing more than his obsession with his wealth, his income and his bigotry (respectively) but regardless of who was right something about this combination of indoctrination had wormed its way into Arthur’s ego and although he had been kicked out of home a week after his graduation with only a few hundred thousand pounds to his name, he was ready to make a true fortune for himself (because a few hundred thousand pounds for a twenty-one year old is simply not enough)

The first thing he did after being forced out of the house was move to a real city. This was in fact the best move that Arthur had ever made, he would be able to enjoy his life free from prying eyes and even if eyes were prying they wouldn’t have any genuine impact on his day to day life, as he would likely never see them again. The first thing he decided to do was find a hotel and he move into its highest quality suite.

Money is a strange thing as when the richest lose all their money they will somehow still be rich. Companionship and friendships however are unfortunate in that once you lose all your friends, you will be as deathly lonely as you can possibly be.

The truth of the matter is, that most people meet new friends through their old friends and through friends of friends until eventually they find the people who are truly similar enough to them in order to make them happy. Arthur didn’t have that luxury (though the mini-bar did make up for it on the first night… and the second… and perhaps the third).

Arthur’s first true attempt to make friends came on the last day of July. He went out to a loud nightclub where the music blared ridiculously loud, where people would talk to him for a few moments before promptly proceeding to leave without another word. There were a few standout people from the night, people that he never saw again and that probably didn’t even remember him. Those who had taken his number never text to arrange that beer, assuming he wanted to hook-up or were content with the friends they already had. It didn’t make much of a difference to Arthur.

He managed to find a job on the seventh day after he arrived in town; although the news of his disinheritance had managed to reach the newspapers, the Pendragon name was still strong enough in all spheres of society for him to get a job wherever he chose. The fact that Arthur chose an advertising company was probably not the best decision in hindsight but for the first week Arthur enjoyed it more than he’d ever expected.

At first his colleagues would bring him into conversations and although he was quite happy to talk about football, he was completely inept at talking about girlfriend and wife issues and the only conversations people seemed to have with him by the end of the week were about work. This was of course quite productive and professionally his life was perfect (or at least as good as it would get) but his private life was still tragic.

After a month his smile that was forced on at the beginning of each new day had worn down to the constant lack of expression. He would get dressed and arrive to work on time yet he didn’t want to be there anymore but he didn’t have anywhere else to be. His days were bleak and it took him till halfway through September to find anyone who would put a smile on his face with any ease. And that man was called Merlin.

-

“Hello, grumpy” The barista grinned as he walked across to Arthur.

Arthur slipped a smile before he squinted to see the man’s name tag. When he read the name Merlin he may have accidentally let out an audible groan. _Merlin._ Arthur knew that only madmen were called Merlin, it wasn’t their fault but it seemed to be a prophecy that when a parent decides to name a child Merlin they didn’t want a normal one.

“What am I getting for you today?”

There was an awkward pause as Arthur pondered the name for a moment, “That’s an unusual name… It’s almost magical.”

“Third time I’ve heard that joke today.” Merlin chimed. “If I got paid a pound every time…”

“You’d have three pounds?” Arthur smirked but stopped himself, “Sorry… I… Just a coffee, black, no sugar”

“Black, no sugar coming up” Merlin scuttled away quickly, tripping over as he walked to the coffee machine.

Arthur shook his head lightly. He definitely didn’t sneak a glance or two at Merlin's arse as he walked and he most certainly would not have watched the trousers Merlin wore sculpt the finer details of the ass as he took each step. Even despite the fact that he didn’t glance at the arse he was acutely aware of its high quality.

“Two pounds for new customers” Merlin smiled.

Arthur handed across a fifty pound note. Arthur was pretty certain the he saw Merlin mutter the word ‘prat’ under his breath but he wasn’t able to be certain. After Merlin examined the note carefully for almost a minute he stared at Arthur intensely for what felt like an extraordinarily long time.

“Do you have anything smaller?”

“I can pay by card?” Arthur shrugged his shoulders a little.

“Jesus Christ. You can pay for it tomorrow. If you come in with only a fifty again then I’m suspecting that you might end up regretting it.”

Arthur nodded gently muttering thanks and took his coffee away to a corner of the café, it was the nicest café that was close enough to work that he wouldn’t have to wear a coat later on in the winter yet distant enough that most of his colleagues would be too frightened of having to walk this far. Mind, it probably helped that he would bang the barista. Or that the barista had a nice arse… Not that he made his decision based on something so _base_.

There was the distinct family air of the place, Merlin knew every customer’s name and they all seemed to come and tell their life story to Merlin. Even as the rush for lunch increased he kept his cool: discussing Betty Longstocking’s new cat and seven year old grandson;  being told all about John’s new girlfriend; Maggie’s rabbit’s rabies. To be honest the stories varied from being either wildly dull to sounding as if the story teller was on crack but Arthur listened from his seat to the helpful advice that Merlin seemed to give to them all.

When he had to leave he got up and walked towards the door. He nodded gently to Merlin as he opened the door to hear a shout.

“Hey, I don’t know your name? I know all my customers names.” Merlin smiled.

“If you’re really magic then you’ll be able to guess.” Arthur laughed a little at his own joke as the door closed behind him.

-

That whole night Arthur had spent upwards of one hour of thinking about Merlin and the man that he might possibly be outside of work. He’d also tried to consider why he’d not told his name to him either. If he was going to be honest with himself it would be because he wanted to maintain a sense of mystery so the first person that he had met who had been so genuinely friendly to all of his customers. It would seem so outrageously silly to Arthur if he’d actually considered that he’d just rationalised it as being due to his fear of being recognised.

Though that had been the answer that his brain had found satisfactory it was simply not the truth, though as he believed it, the truth probably didn’t matter. Arthur returned to the coffee shop the next day arriving at around eleven thirty. The moment he stepped through the door he had found himself smiling slightly.

“Hey Grumpy.” Merlin smiled, “I was thinking about your name and I’m not certain but I think you look like a James. No wait… I don’t know any blonds called James. I think that must be a brunette name…”

“There’s no such thing as a brunette name but it’s definitely not James.” Arthur’s tone had been a lot friendlier than he anticipated and as much as Merlin hadn’t minded Arthur quickly shut down his barriers. “Coffee, black, no sugar.”

“Righty, righty. Anything interesting happened to you since yesterday?”

“Is that how you get the life story of all your customers?” Arthur paused.

“Well, people tell me as much or as little of their life as they want. You look hungry, do you want a cake or sandwich?” Merlin smiled.

Arthur didn’t know exactly how Merlin could tell, though maybe the time had given him away and he quickly nodded before realising a nod was unhelpful and he agreed to a sandwich (toasted). After he’d paid (he stopped at a cash machine to get a ten pound note especially), Merlin sent him to a table with his coffee and a few minutes later came out and presented him with his toasted sandwich.

“I think looking at you from this angle you could pull being called something ridiculously fancy. Maybe with that fifty you’re named Henry but everyone calls you Harry or maybe…”

Arthur glared at him closely.

“You prefer to eat without someone talking at you? Right.”

So Merlin scampered off to behind the counter and cleaned it until his customers started pouring in. Though Mrs Longstocking didn’t give continued updates on her bloodline, Arthur was relieved to hear that her husband’s heart attack wasn’t quite as severe as the doctors had thought. John had found it in himself to return to share even more good news regarding his relationship with his (as of last night) _fiancé_. Arthur didn’t pay as much attention to the stories as he did yesterday and he instead simply watched out of the window at the people who went by.

People watching is an activity that is neither fulfilling in itself nor entertaining without imagination. If you simply listen to people’s conversations on public transport then you will pick up nuggets of bad logic, random politics and awful personal lives.

Arthur recalled one woman on a bus about three years ago who spilled out her entire life story over the phone while she was sat on a bus. Suffice to say this wasn’t particularly British of her for two distinct reasons, firstly she shared her feelings and secondly she shared them in public. The fact of the matter is that nobody really cared about the fact that she had just been cheated on, or (if they did) they didn't care enough for her to be filling a double decker bus with her complaints.

The people on the bus all shifted uncomfortably and frankly, the lack of ambiguity in her life is what drove it. Say, instead, you are enlightened with the closing twenty seconds of the same conversation where she may have ended the conversation with, “I just don’t get him at all. Anyway, I’ll call you later.” Then in order to fully enjoy the art of people watching Arthur (or you, or the bus passengers) would have simply had to make up the rest of the story.

Yet watching through a window requires even less detail to make grander assumptions. For example Arthur gazed out of the window and saw a woman wearing a long red coat, black high heels and she had her hair up in a bun. Despite the fact he felt like he was watching a _random person in the crowd_ cliché he decided that he was actually looking at a truly high class prostitute. The woman was infact an investment banker.

He saw a man in a t-shirt and jeans strolling at a casual pace with a bag of chips in his hand. Arthur decided that as it was the middle of the day and he was in casual wear that he was probably unemployed. It was a silly assumption; the man was actually leaving for a holiday that day and didn’t have any food in the fridge.

The assumptions that he quickly derived from these people’s appearances (and the backstories) became progressively more outlandish, yet without a newspaper around this was the only option Arthur had in entertaining himself. The time was better spent people watching than thinking, which is only an adequate alternative if one has things other than work to think about.

On his way out he heard Merlin shout, “Goodbye Arthur”

He hadn’t processed this initially and it felt quite natural but when he was back in the office and he’d sat down he’d realised quite how strange it was as he still hadn't told Merlin his name.

-

This became habit for Arthur, he would enter the café every lunchtime (leaving a little early if possible) and he would sit for his entire lunch break listening to the stories of Merlin’s customers and listen to the friendships he had made with all of these people. Every single day these friendships were present in his life. Arthur was only a little bit jealous and that was how it stayed.

The fact that his salary covered his hotel room and that he’d been able to get a discounted rate for becoming a permanent resident meant that the only money Arthur had to find was that to actually live on, which came through interest and the remainder of his salary.

His life wasn’t anything special, mind. He would wake up, get dressed and go down to work and trundle along through the day until lunch when he would go and get a coffee and a sandwich (or coffee and a cake) from Merlin. He would plan to flirt but he had never convinced himself to go through with it when the moment came. He would plan just to ask Merlin out straight off the bat but when he tried all that would come out would be a jumble of words that he could fortunately just brush off as him asking for a coffee.

This was the problem that Arthur found. He simply wasn’t attractive enough for anyone to ever ask him out and although the fact that nobody knew him or talked to him outside of work and Merlin, Arthur had been convinced that it was because he was unappealing. At university and previously he’d never actually dated anyone. The only thing even remotely close to dating was when he and a friend watched porn together at age thirteen (before his friend decided that watching straight porn together was too gay for him).

Over time, Arthur’s expectations of ever finding a relationship had been beaten from him completely and he had grown to accept that not everyone would find the perfect person. In fact the chances of finding the perfect person were so astronomically slim that he couldn’t embrace the prospect at all. Some people are liberated by the idea that their life has no meaning and follow a path of hedonism. Some people are liberated by the idea that there is no such thing as fate and only blind luck, Arthur was simply quite indifferent to the prospect.

The fact of the matter that Arthur felt anything about was how incredibly lonely he was. He would often note that he would feel empty and nauseated without any particular reason and that he was all by himself. He barely registered the fact that he felt as strong as he possibly could about the only person who was in his life with any regularity, which was because it wasn’t exactly a normal friendship that he had with Merlin. The friendship wasn’t exactly normal because it was stilted and Arthur was as closed off as possible in his presence.

The change to their relationship came in the middle of one night at around three a.m. he went for a midnight stroll (an ineptly named midnight stroll) and he went for a long walk weaving around the city. First he stopped off at the river and watched as a small private yacht sailed past. He went to see the grand park and statues; they were beautiful except for the distinct excess of homeless people that seemed to fill it. Then he started to walk back home.

On a Sunday morning at around four-thirty one very rarely expects to find any shop open, and if you do it’s normally because it’s a petrol pump (so I don't think that qualifies) yet Arthur saw a vague light in the distance and he was pretty certain that it was coming from Merlin’s café. He walked along towards the light and saw that there were still customers inside.

He opened the door and saw Merlin smiling at him. Arthur looked more closely at the customers and saw that all of the customers were varying Asian cultures. Some were Indian, he saw a few Chinese, a Japanese woman and he could see one exception in the corner that he was pretty certain was Australian.

“Hello Arthur, I didn’t think you’d be dropping by so early.” Merlin smiled, “It’s nearly five in Albion so I’ll make you a hot chocolate that can send you to sleep when you get home?”

“Why are you open so late?” Arthur narrowed his eyes a little and after Merlin raised his eyebrows at him. “I’d appreciate a hot chocolate.”

“This shop never shuts.” Merlin walked across to the machine that made hot chocolates.

“I didn’t realise this city had such a big Asian community?”

“Oh, no. You’ve misunderstood. Tell you what take a stool further along the counter and we can chat after I deal with my next customer.”

Arthur looked over his shoulder and nobody was there. Merlin passed him the hot chocolate and Arthur took it down to counter towards the seat.

“So where’s the next customer?” Arthur winked, “I don’t think anyone’s going to drop by at this time.”

At that moment the café door opened and a tanned gentleman entered the shop wearing only a t-shirt and shorts.

“S’up dude?” The man spoke with a thick Californian accent.

Merlin’s accent had shifted to match the accent. “Not much. We’ve had good weather today, you been on the beach?”

“Aha, you know it. Gotta’ admit to you that I am glad I took your advice, I met this girl earlier today and we went back to my place…”

Merlin coughed gently, “I think my British friend here might appreciate it if you avoided that sort of talk.” He gestured vaguely across to Arthur. He lowered his voice to a hushed tone just below Arthur’s hearing range. Before returning to normal volume to ask the question that all of Merlin’s catch-ups end with, “So, what can I get you?”

After he made the drink and handed it over to the American he was paid his money and walked across to Arthur.

“So, do you understand what this place is yet?” Merlin’s accent was a standard British accent again.

“I think I’m dreaming.” Arthur paused. “This makes no sense. How can he have been to the beach today?”

“Well Tom is in California right now.” Merlin paused, “You’re not meant to come in outside of your slot. Most people know to stay away.”

“So when do you sleep?”

“Wow. That’s the only question you have to ask? I mean, you’ve just found out that a Californian is teleported to Albion or that you’ve been teleported to California and you somehow worry about my sleeping pattern?”

“Well _now_ I’m more interested in that” Arthur gave a quick smirk and he took a sip of his hot chocolate.

“So, I don’t sleep. I don’t need to and as for the teleportation, this place is only semi real, it’s magical and in many locations simultaneously.” Merlin paused.

Arthur laughed a little and nodded. “Why not just run a normal café?”

“Because then I don’t get to help the people who need me most. All of these people they have the most heartbreaking of stories or lives so far. I simply help them become the best they possibly can be.”

“Oh please, I’ve been coming here for months now. Mrs Longstocking is fine.”

“Well _now_ she is. When she started coming to the café her grandson had just been diagnosed with leukaemia, her husband had just had a heart attack and her cat was severely ill. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced a moment in life where anything that could be shit was shit but she has and only now is she fine. But equally she is all alone in the world. Her daughter has progressively slipped into a worse and worse depression and well it takes a while for people to cope with responsibilities.”

“Then why am I here?” Arthur paused.

“My magic decides who comes. I think it wants you to see that everyone has someone who loves them. Everyone has a path to take when they come here and well, you’ve been a stubborn one. Most of my customers come and I can help them… But I just don’t seem to get you. My magic doesn’t get you, I’ve been stumped since you first walked in.”

“So nobody loves me?”

Merlin placed his hand on Arthur’s for a moment and squeezed it gently. “Not yet, but my magic hasn’t failed me yet. I’m pretty certain that something good is happening for you tomorrow and it will make you happy, I just don’t know what it is. I have had well over 300 customers a day for a long time and when they stop coming they are always on a path to achieve great things, you will do too. Anyway, I think this is enough talk for one night. You should probably be asleep… or something.”

Merlin waved his hand and Arthur felt himself float away in an instant.

-

Arthur woke up in a state of shock. He glanced over to the clock. It read six thirty and it was beeping loudly at him. He felt tired and slightly confused; firstly because it was a Sunday and he’d never set the alarm to go off on a Sunday, secondly because of the dream that he'd had the night before. Either way it didn’t make that much of a difference as he slammed the alarm off and returned to a dreamless sleep.

By the time he was actually happy to wake up he took an unusual Sunday trip to the coffee shop. Merlin was still behind the counter but he didn’t walk in, he couldn’t exactly ask if what he’d heard last night was a dream or not. There was only one way to do this in a way which wouldn’t draw unnecessary attention to him and that would be to sit with another customer tomorrow. The though irked him unnecessarily and he wasn’t looking forward to the possibility of having to listen to any of the customers stories. In the end he never actually did this, which was probably for the best given the disdain he held for the idea.

Arthur did see a strange thing that although customers weren’t entering there were new customers at the counter almost constantly but he didn’t stay looking for long and there was probably a logical explanation for all of this that didn’t revolve around magic. A logical explanation such as people returning for second drinks perhaps. Or maybe pedestrians were obstructing the view to the door when other customers entered.

That day he spent reading fiction and analysing the major plot flaws that he came across. Furthermore he noted a complete lack of prostitution across the novel. Normally that wouldn’t particularly matter but for some reason he had been expecting it to appear. By the time the evening had come he’d scrawled notes in pencil all across the margins and placed it on the shelf in his hotel room.

It was in that exact moment he decided that he need to shift away from living in the hotel and move into an actual house. It is all very well not having to cook for yourself but living in a hotel is a miserable existence. The staff all called him Mr. Pendragon and had somehow never questioned the fact he’d been there for nearly eight months.

He went down to the bar that evening, not feeling that taking advantage of the mini bar was adequate for the evening. He didn’t expect to meet anyone of any particular interest but he stumbled across a gentleman called Gwaine, he was pleasant enough on the eye as well as a semi-skilled conversationalist. However he was in town on business so after giving Arthur his business card (with a wink, it might be noted) he went to bed and left Arthur to his evening of whiskey and thinking.

Arthur didn’t consider the true implication of the wink or the giving of the number and instead settled for the self-defeating belief that Gwaine was only being nice to him because he was being polite. Fortunately for Gwaine he had said that he could put Arthur in touch with an estate agent that would do all of the leg work for him, and given that Arthur didn’t care for that sort of work (as he’d never had to) it meant that Arthur would have to call.

The next day Arthur woke at a normal time, strolled down to work, deciding to pop into the café to see if there were any unusual customers at this time of the morning. In Asia it would be the end of work (he assumed they worked from 9-5 also) and the shop seemed to reflect this with there being a few Asian gentlemen in suits around the room. Arthur shook his head in disapproval of his racial profiling, it was equally likely that they were all working in this city not halfway across the planet.

Merlin gave him a grin as he looked around the room befuddled. “Hello Grumpy. You look lost. Have you come to the right place?”

“Uh. Yeah, sorry. Maybe I had too much to drink last night.”

“Or maybe you’ve not caught up sleep from Sunday night yet?”

Arthur nodded a little. He figured that it wasn’t a dream then. Though he still didn’t quite believe it.

“You’re the first to learn about all this you know. The magic normally keeps people away when it’s not their time.” Merlin paused and drummed his hand against the counter. “Right, so I’m going to get you a nice creamy latte and you look like you’ve not eaten yet so I’ll grab you a muffin and while I do that you can tell me why you were drinking last night.”

“I met someone.” Arthur scratched the back of his neck. “Not like that mind, I mean not that I would say no…” Arthur stopped himself for a moment feeling a surge of relaxation running through his body, “Anyway, I went to the bar and met him and we chatted a bit. He’s going to set me up with someone to house hunt for me.”

Merlin smiled at him over his shoulder as he stirred the latte rapidly causing the spoon to clink against the side of the glass cup. “He made you flustered and he’s going to set you up. If you like him you should ask. You don’t lose anything from trying.”

Arthur shrugged a little. “It was quite nice to have a friend y’know. Someone to talk to.”

“Well you’ve been a little chatterbox this morning. You should call him… I have a good feeling about this.” Merlin handed Arthur his drink refusing any payment insisting that, “It’s a celebration.”

Rather than moving to a table Arthur simply sat at the counter on the barstool as he had done last night and listened attentively to Merlin’s conversations with customers. His accent always changed when he moved from customer to customer, his fluency in every language would have surprised him too had he paid any attention to the fact the languages had been changing and hadn’t been staring at Merlin’s lips or arse (depending on which side was available to look at).

Just before he had to go Merlin was without any customers for a few moments and walked to Arthur.

Arthur spoke before Merlin had a chance, “So what do you do for yourself amongst all this?”

“Oh, it’s a twenty-four hour job. I’m happy, I don’t need anything doing for me.” Merlin’s eyes met with Arthur’s for an instant too long before quickly glancing down to the coffee cup. “I live vicariously through others, I’ve been doing this for nearly twenty years now.”

Arthur let out a harsh laugh, “Oh come on. You’re only just twenty. You’ve yet to convince me your store is magical and you’re trying to convince me you’ve been working since you were two?”

Merlin shrugged. “It’s how long you’ve been working. Your father gave you an internship at his company when you were three.”

“Jesus Christ, this is why you come across as creepy, Merlin. Where do you learn these things?”

“Oh. _That_ I learned from Wikipedia. I can send you a link if you’d like. There’s a flattering picture of you on there with no top on.”

Arthur stood up, “Well _now_ I know that’s not true. I’ve never had a topless picture of me. Anyway, I have work to do. I’ll see you at lunch?”

Merlin nodded, “I want to hear about Gwaine too.”

Arthur narrowed his eyes on Merlin a little. He hadn’t remembered mentioning Gwaine’s name but he supposed he must have done and he walked off to work with as much haste as possible. Despite the long coffee before work he still arrived with five minutes to go before his first meeting. Whether that reflected the tardiness of the first meeting or the earliness with which he usually arrived is up for debate, however what was surprising was the fact that the man who walked in through his office door was Gwaine.

Arthur nodded gently when he entered quickly making polite greetings and ignoring completely the fact that they had drank together last night. It wasn’t until the end of the meeting that he made any reference to it. He asked Gwaine to send his secretary the details of the property advisor he suggested. Gwaine soon shot off he had another meeting (probably with one of Arthur’s competitors) and he asked Arthur if he wanted to go to dinner. Arthur agreed and suggested a time and a place, as apparently there was a restaurant he wanted to try (he quickly put his secretary onto finding and booking a restaurant when he realised that wasn’t strictly true) that would meet Gwaine’s needs.

Arthur worked until lunch and left as usual to go to the café he told Merlin he was going to dinner that evening with Gwaine and although Arthur wasn’t entirely sure on Merlin as a person he was pretty certain that the smile he gave was forced, it wasn’t his place to ask though.

The evening came far too fast and without much pause for thought Arthur had thrown on his best shirt and suit. He readjusted his jacket slightly in the mirror before he walked down to the reception to see Gwaine sat in the lounging area the hotel had refurnished just a few weeks ago.

The restaurant was within walking distance and it was close enough to his office so as not to have to worry about knowing where it was. The walk was surprisingly brisk Arthur pointing out any vaguely interesting locations that were along the route. Vaguely interesting was definitely the phrase as a lot of the facts were of the sort “This is where <insert artist> met <insert mistress>” or “This is where <Insert Politician> made <Insert Speech>”. Frankly, the fact that Gwaine listened attentively said more for his politeness than the quality of the facts.

They discussed recent news and current affairs briefly before shifting onto more familiar ground and discussing where they went to university and their families. Arthur kept the over-sharing to a minimum saying that he was estranged due to his father’s disapproval of his life but this didn’t feel like the right moment to share his entire life story and nor did he expect (perhaps through sheer fear) that Gwaine would have been pleasantly surprised and not at all disgusted that Arthur actually like men more than women.

Gwaine mentioned that his sister was engaged and his parents were now expecting him to marry before long, quickly insisting that marriage wasn’t something he didn’t want to rush into and not something that he necessarily had to have. Arthur not realising that this was moving closer and closer towards date territory and was definitely no longer a business meal noted that he wanted very much to marry and that he didn’t understand the purpose of waiting when he finds the right person.

The conversation moved onto careers and Arthur talked about how he was trying to make it on his own without his father and Gwaine talked about how his parents would have been quite content for him to simply live off of the estate but they understood his desire to earn money before he inherited the title.

“Aren’t noble blooded men all meant to be ugly?” Arthur squinted a little, “You don’t look like a horse or overly inbred.”

“Well, I should say the same of you.” Gwaine paused, added a little steak to his mouth and gave a slightly reddened grin. “Not entirely sure though, pretty sure Ygraine is my third cousin once removed.”

Arthur raised his eyebrows a little, “My father never talked about my mother. Nobody did actually. I’m told I look like her though.”

Gwaine shrugged, “I never met her I’m afraid.”

“So if Ygraine is your third cousin once removed I’m pretty certain that makes me your third cousin.”

“’Fraid not, you’re my third cousin twice removed.” Gwaine paused, “I’m two generations older than you by the family tree.”

“Huh?” Arthur snorted a little, “Well either way you’re the closest thing I have to family at the moment.”

Gwaine deflated a little, “ _How romantic.”_ He took an unnecessarily long blink as he placed his fork on the table. “So, pudding?”

“I know a coffee shop near here. It’s open 24/7 and they make the best of whatever drink you could possibly ask for.”

“Hmmm. What if I want a screaming orgasm?”

“Pretty certain that the barista is a man.”

“Yes princess, and so are you.” Gwaine winked. “Maybe with dumb comments like that you are a little more inbred than I thought. Maybe I’ll run off with this intellect in the café instead of the marketing manager with the sense of a fish.”

Arthur blushed furiously for several minutes before covering the bill (on his business credit card) he finished his glass of wine before they left the restaurant. Arthur relaxed after that, he didn’t exactly know why but he realised that Gwaine was probably the first gay person he’d met. There was a distinct worry in the back of his mind that if this had been a date then he may have already completely messed it up somewhere along the way but he pushed all panic to the back of his mind as they walked to the coffee shop.

“You’ve gone awfully quiet. You didn’t shut up about Madame Bovary’s official fan club’s headquarters on the way to the restaurant, are there no interesting buildings around here?”

“They’re mostly big businesses. You can probably come up with better stories than the truth.”

Gwaine stopped suddenly waiting for Arthur to notice he’d disappeared from his side. Arthur turned puzzled when he noticed the vacant space next to him. Gwaine raised his hands melodramatically towards the building on his left. Without warning Gwaine put on a pretentious received pronunciation British accent.

“And on my left is the famous residence of Mr Henry Winklebottom, he was the inventor of the wooden spoon factory machinery in 1832. The building wasn’t this tall at the time and actually where the ground is now is actually above the roof of the old house of Mr Winklebottom.”

Arthur quirked a smile before shaking his head, “Pretty certain that I don’t sound like that.”

“I thought the accent was undeniably accurate.” Gwaine walked back to Arthur’s side and quickly slipped his hand into Arthur’s.

Arthur didn’t have a chance to react simply opting to accept Gwaine’s fingers between his. They walked and came up with progressively more outlandish stories about the buildings until they reached the café. As the two men stepped in Merlin glanced at their two hands and his smile fell a little.

“Hello Grumpy and I didn’t realise this was your Gwaine.”

Gwaine walked across to the counter and gave Merlin a warm handshake. “And _I_ didn’t realise you’d moved your coffee shop. Arthur, you’d never have guessed looking at him but he used to run the shop in my home town. Like, just before I went to university.” Gwaine looked back to Merlin and scrutinised his face for a moment, “You don’t look a day older and nor does this shop actually. Jesus Christ, is this all of the same furniture.”

Merlin shrugged, “I don’t like refurbishments they take away character and I like what I’m used to. When did you leave Caerleon?”

“I haven’t been back properly since I left for university. You know, you were the one who convinced me to talk to my parents about working instead of being a gentleman? I never got to thank you for that, I’d left the town before I’d got a chance.”

Merlin smiled. “I’m glad it all worked out for you. So let me guess you will be having a screaming orgasm tonight?” Gwaine gave a quick wink. “So while you two are here let me get you both a coffee. I’ll bring them across to your table in a minute. We’re pretty quiet right now.”

The two men disappeared to a table leaving Merlin’s false smile to disappear and make their coffees. Merlin made the drinks with as much haste as he possibly could before scurrying across to their corner table and giving them both their drink.

“Hey look, I’m gonna’ be out back for ten and sneak a quick smoke. If anyone comes in tell them I’ll be back in a few?” Merlin smiled and left before pacing out of the building with an unnecessarily large amount of haste.

“Do you think he’s alright?” Arthur paused.

Gwaine shrugged, “Probably just jealousy.”

“But he completely ignored me?”

“Yes. He’s jealous of me dating you.”

Arthur mused for a moment, “I dunno’. I’ve been here every weekday for over half a year and he’s never given me any indication that he’s into me. He actually called me an obnoxious prat something like the third time I came in here.”

“Arthur, let me cut to the chase. You talked about Merlin a lot tonight then you bring me to meet him and he runs off…”

“I don’t talk about Merlin all the time.” Arthur paused.

“We were talking about your job and you mention Merlin. We talked about your family and you somehow found a way onto Merlin. Don’t get me wrong we all talk about our friends but you didn’t say we were going to meet Merlin until we got here and that’s a convenient thing to miss out the detail of. You like him and Merlin looked like he’d had to screw on his smile after he saw us holding hands.”

Arthur shook his head a little, “It’s not like that. Anyway isn’t this our date?”

Gwaine tutted, “Princess, you didn’t even realise this was a date until _after_ dinner.” Arthur’s mouth gaped open for a moment, “You paid with your corporate credit card. Besides I’m buggering back off to Alba tomorrow aren’t I?” Arthur shrugged, “Go outside and talk to him I’ll keep an eye on customers.”

Arthur nodded, his mouth a little dry and he stood and walked towards the door that Merlin had gone to. On the sign it clearly stated _staff only_ but given the situation he felt that it wouldn’t be a valid excuse to give to Gwaine for not talking to Merlin. He opened the door to find himself in another building it looked like a house that hadn’t been decorated for over twenty years. He closed the door behind him quickly and walked along the hallway.

He could hear Merlin’s voice behind a door and he closed his eyes and pushed it open gently. He saw Merlin stood in the centre of the room stood on his mobile phone and he knocked heavily on the now open door so he didn’t feel like he was intruding on the conversation. Merlin jumped around in a state of shock and his face relaxed immediately when he saw that it was Arthur.

“Jesus Christ, you gave me a shock.” Merlin shook his head, “No, not you mum. My friend just walked in my house without knocking I must have missed the doorbell. I’ll call you later.” He hung up.

“So, my dream was real? For definite?”

Merlin nodded abruptly, “I didn’t mean to send you away you were causing ripples in my work and…”

“I don’t mind.” Arthur paused. “Do you know why I was brought to your shop yet?”

Merlin shook his head a little before stopping. “I’m guessing it’s for Gwaine. I think he’s your destiny.”

“No. It’s definitely not for Gwaine.” Arthur paused. “Gwaine’s not my destiny. We’re going to be fine friends”

“Maybe it’s to guide you to find these friends.”

“Nope.” Arthur took a few steps forwards. “Would you like me to tell you?”

Merlin let out a bit of nervous laughter. “Yes.” He nodded gently for a moment.

“Maybe.” Arthur paused as he moved his head forward a little. “Maybe I’m here to show you that everyone has someone to love them?” And he moved his head the rest of the way forward sealing the night with a kiss.

Chapter II – Epilogue

Merlin threw Arthur against the wall as he kissed him roughly. He ground himself against Arthur’s leg and dragged his teeth along the bottom of Arthur’s lips. Arthur let out a moan and his breath ran along Merlin’s face. Arthur moved his hands down to cup Merlin’s firm buttocks and he squeezed each of them gently through his jeans. As Merlin fiddled with Arthur’s belt, Arthur’s hands moved to beneath Merlin’s underwear and pinched his bottom gently.

Merlin moved his lips from Arthur’s face to his neck where he nipped and tugged along the line of his not-quite-clean shave. Arthur’s stubborn belt was finally unclasped and this soon allowed Merlin to push the trousers down and palm Arthur’s growing erection through his underwear. Merlin’s free hand reached back for Arthur’s belt.

“I’m going to tie your hands behind your back. It’ll be loose enough you can get out if you want.” Merlin whispered in Arthur’s ear. “If you say no or tell me to stop then I will.”

Merlin’s tongued traced down from Arthur’s ear to the top of his chest where Merlin unbuttoned his shirt rapidly. Immediately after he’d finished unbuttoning the shirt he ran his tongue around each of Arthur’s nipples and he tied up his hands behind his back. He could feel Arthur’s breath along his face as he watched Merlin toy with him slowly. Merlin kissed his chest gently once more before kneeling in front of Arthur.

He pushed Arthur’s hip against the wall with one hand as he tugged his boxers down aggressively with his other. He place only his first finger and thumb around Arthur’s erection and he only slowly moved his hand up and down the shaft. Merlin applied only the tiniest bit of pressure as he bobbed his hand at an excessively slow rate. He moved his head forward a small amount and he blew along Arthur.

Over the course of maybe three or four minutes Merlin had slowly added fingers and pressure to Arthur’s erection until he had his full fist moving up and down. Merlin moved his lips and kissed gently on Arthur’s sac and sucked gently on each of his testicles. Arthur let out a slight moan as Merlin’s tongue ran around them with care, attention but force. Merlin moved his head back away from his testicles and planted a gentle kiss on Arthur’s head.

His tongue ventured out of his mouth and licked gently the precome that had built up on a progressively pinker head. Every so often Arthur would let out a light moan that would cause Merlin to close his eyes and picture the blond’s mouth engulfing him completely. After his tongue had built up a familiarity with Arthur’s head it slowly descended. Merlin sucked gently and still masturbated Arthur until his hand met his mouth.

Merlin removed his hand and took Arthur as far in as he possibly could without any discomfort. Rather than moving once he reached this position his tongue simply ran across the underbelly of Arthur’s erection. Until Arthur finally broke.

“Stop teasing me.” He moaned.

Merlin raised an eyebrow and brought his mouth off of Arthur. “Would you rather I tease myself?”

Merlin pushed down his trousers and took a grasp of himself. Arthur watched as Merlin’s hand bobbed on his shaft aggressively for a minute or two. He considered releasing himself from the poorly tied knots in his belt but decided against when Merlin stood and placed his hands against Arthur’s shoulders. Merlin pushed down until Arthur fell to his knees.

He pushed his cock inside Arthur’s mouth and thrust gently at first. When Arthur started to moan around his cock and the vibrations moved across into him he thrust a little deeper. He placed his hands in Arthur’s hair and he thrust in aggressively. Merlin closed his eyes as he grew closer to orgasm and he grew more impatient so he increased his speed, occasionally given Arthur an order to suck harder or used his tongue.

Merlin finally thrust one last time into Arthur’s mouth and felt his whole body relax and thrust more slowly as Arthur simply sucked gently and swallowed all that Merlin had to give. Merlin ordered Arthur to stand again and pushed him back against the wall. He clasped at Arthur’s erection and fisted it with haste for less than a minute before Arthur was thrusting against his hand. When Arthur moaned that he was about to come Merlin didn’t move out of the way fast enough to avoid having come along his leg and in his hand.

“Merlin…” Arthur freed his hands and placed one on Merlin’s cheek and stroked it gently. “I know this is probably the least romantic thing to say right now but...”

Merlin’s eyes widened, “What is it?”

“You’re really good at sucking cock.”

There are a lot of conversations that lovers can have that can leave people lost for words. Merlin alas, was ever so eloquent and knew that the correct response wasn’t an awkward thanks or a return of the compliment. So he fell back on the only word that could do justice to the moment.

“Prat.”

**Author's Note:**

> I accidentally hit post instead of save after making the draft and that had led to me having a lot of bad grammar in a lot of places. Normally I write in word and edit on AO3, this is no exception but I'm going to have to do a lot of minor edits. Grammatical errors are something I normally welcome criticism on because I've just missed them, for this work due to this error in the first week or so after the publication there may be problems.
> 
> Epilogue porn is indeed gratuitous and adds nothing to story. However I've had a porn writers-block recently and this was me celebrating that I could write porn again.
> 
> This was originally written to be a part of another story I had in mind but I couldn't bring myself to write the original plan and this (what would be the prologue) makes a nice standalone fic.
> 
> If you have read these end notes then thanks for reading the fic despite a probably large number of flaws ^^


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